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Cleveland students will learn from inside MetroHealth hospital in first-of-its-kind School of Science and Health

Updated on June 9, 2016 at 11:08 AMPosted on June 9, 2016 at 9:30 AM

MetroHealth Scholars.jpg

Lincoln-West student Mirika Mpabagona examines a mannequin in the simulation center at MetroHealth Medical Center as part of a program the hospital ran for students at the school in 2014-15. The district and hospital are now creating a new School of Science and Health, which will be split between the hospital and Lincoln-West.
(Gus Chan / The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Shadowing doctors, attending lectures and working in labs at MetroHealth Medical Center will be a major part of the new "School of Science and Health" that MetroHealth is creating this summer with the Cleveland school district.

The new high school, announced this morning by MetroHealth CEO Akram Boutros, will mix a traditional high school curriculum with "hands-on, interactive learning with professionals in a hospital setting" starting in July.

The school, he said today, "will provide Cleveland high school students with training in -- and exposure to -- the hundreds of jobs available in health care. Jobs that will help guarantee them a sound and safe future."

The new school will eventually have 400 or more students split time between Lincoln-West High School on W. 30th Street and the hospital just a half mile away. It is based off the "MetroHealth Scholars" program between the hospital and school that let students shadow hospital employees this just-finished school year.

The district and hospital are billing it as the first high school of its kind to be embedded in a hospital.

"We will immerse students in the fascinating world of modern science, health and medicine through rigorous project based curriculum, active learning labs and relevant workplace and community experiences," the school's mission statement reads.

Like the district's MC2STEM High School, the High School for the Digital Arts and the two freshman academies feeding into John F. Kennedy High School, the new School of Science and Health will be a year-round school. Students will attend school for 10 weeks and have three weeks off, then keep repeating that pattern.

That will begin July 26.

The school board is expected to approve the school June 28.

School district CEO Eric Gordon thanked the hospital for giving students an "active and engaging" program that should help them thrive.

"Opening this high school with MetroHealth will allow students to explore firsthand the career options that are available to them in health care if they successfully complete their studies," Gordon said in a written statement.

After the announcement, Gordon said the district is intentionally adding programs that put students in real workplaces. He said much of the poverty in Cleveland spans over generations, so students often have no idea what they can aspire to.

"If our kids are going to be successful, you give them exposure and embed than in experiences they would not otherwise have, so they see they can do it," Gordon said.

Boutros said, also in a written statement, that the school represents a commitment to the community beyond medicine.

"We know that students who have solid career plans, job prospects with good salaries and benefits and futures filled with hope are destined for success," Boutros said. "They are healthier, their families are healthier and our community is healthier."

The school is the latest specialty high school the district has created in partnership with other institutions. Others include:

- MC2STEM High School, a partnership that allows students to take classes at the Great Lakes Science Center, the General Electric campus at Nela Park and Cleveland State University.

- Campus International School, an elementary school that will eventually have a high school, created by both the district and Cleveland State.

- Bard High School Early College, a partnership between the district and Bard College in New York that lets students earn associates degrees and high school diplomas at the same time.

It also continues a pattern of the district breaking off parts of existing schools into smaller ones, just as it did when turning John Marshall High School into three separate schools this fall.

The district is still designing changes it has to make to Lincoln-West to accommodate the new program, which will go on the second and third floors.

Principal Chris Thompson, who just joined the district after teaching just outside Washington, D.C., said the school will start with 150 students in ninth and 10th grade and add students each year.

Ninth graders will spend most of their time at Lincoln-West but shift to spending most of it at MetroHealth by 10th grade. For the last two years, he said, students will have a combination of internships at the hospital and coursework at Lincoln-West.

He and MetroHealth spokesperson Rita Andolsen said students will see all parts of hospital operations, ranging from food service to Information Technology to medical activities, so they can experience a full range of jobs.

Thompson said students will pick an aspect of the hospital to focus on and have internships aimed at that area.

"They're not tied down to just a medical track or science track," he said. "We're trying to really personalize the student's experience."